That episode was amazing. I mean, I didn't think it was possible to take Breaking Bad to a new level. When Skyler pulls the knife on Walt, and Flynn has to pull his psychotic father off his complicit mother, holy crap.

I also like the way Hank went out. "You're the smartest guy I know, but you can't see he made up his mind ten minutes ago." He gets to go out like a man, like a guy Anton Chigirn would respect as he murders.

Skyler finally realizing she should have turned Walt in the second she found out he was a drug dealer, Flynn finally facing reality. Marie having empathy for her sister. Just amazing. And still two episodes left in the series.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Walt's phone call at the end was designed to get Skyler off the hook.

He gained nothing by calling her, and he went out of his way to say that he threatened to hurt her, even though he didn't. And he said 'No Police?' when he must have known full well the police were listening. I think Walt was trying to cast Skyler as a terrified victim instead of a complicit accomplice.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Walt's phone call at the end was designed to get Skyler off the hook.

He gained nothing by calling her, and he went out of his way to say that he threatened to hurt her. And he said 'No Police?' when he must have known full well the police were listening. I think Walt was trying to cast Skyler as a terrified victim instead of a complicit accomplice.

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Interesting. Never thought of that. Blowing up and blaming others isn't unusual for Walt, so it's easy to miss something like that.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Walt's phone call at the end was designed to get Skyler off the hook.

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I certainly saw it that way. And thank God for it; I was beginning to worry that Gilligan was going to give us some kind of nihilistic "we're all shit on the inside" ending. But it seems Walt is (still) trying to save his family.

Walt is not a totally corrupt person. While his ego definitely got away from him and led him into some bad decisions, his reason for "breaking bad" in the first place (to provide for his family after his death) and the motivation for many of the schemes he's perpetrated (to save others, primarily Jesse and Hank) were not dishonorable.

I don't like the way Gomey died off-screen. Or that suddenly Hank has a mortal wound when they both seemed perfectly fine at the end of the previous episode.

Walt kidnapping his baby and threatening his wife's life over the phone is by far the most heinous thing he's done in the show. So I like the theory that he did it for the police to hear to absolve her of his crimes.

I have a new theory on the end of the show. Walt, on the run, dies alone and in pain from the cancer in the bathroom of a slimey motel room.

Not yet anyway, but isn't that the whole point? Isn't that why we get shown a flashback of a time when he was all loaded with good intentions & genuine care for people? All those things are being left behind, painfully, like tearing away parts of himself

This episode was gut wrenching. I knew Hank would die and Jesse would be kidnapped, but the knife fight really had me honestly terrified. I thought either Skylar would be accidentally stabbed or Jr. I was really worried there and then when Walt took Holly, I was just creeped out. The shit really hit the fan quickly on this one. I like that Todd seems to feel bad for Jesse. It should be I interesting to see if he helps Jesse and turns on his uncle or what. Great episode.

Amazing Episode! Who else thought Walt would come to the car wash right before Marie and Skylar talked to Walt Jr.? The reaction from Marie would have been priceless for Walt to come in pretending nothing happened. Poor Hank and Gomie, hopefully Walt reveals were the bodies are so they can have a proper burial.

Such a great episode. I think this was the climax we waited 5 seasons for. Everything has fallen apart for Walt. He's lost his family. It's only a matter of time before the whole city--maybe even the whole country--knows about his secret life. Seems like the kind of thing that would make a great national news story. "Loving husband and father turns out to be murderous drug lord, find out more at 11."

Looks like those of us predicting Hank's exit last week were right. Hank was probably a dead man due to his wound, anyway, but seeing Walt plead for his life was great. Nope, Walt, this is one thing you can't control, even though it is entirely your fault. Jack's Nazi Pack knew they couldn't let Hank go, not after engaging in a shootout with DEA agents and killing Gomez. There's just no way Hank would let it go, Jack knew it, and Hank knew he knew it. Walt was the only one who thought there was some kind of "out" here.

And then, with Jesse helpless and marked for death, Walt decides to turn his grief into petty vengeance, twisting the knife in Jesse by telling him about Jane.

It was amazing to see Flynn's transformation in this episode. I think we saw him go through most of the stages of grief here: you had the denial ("you're making this up!"), the anger ("how could you lie to me?!), the bargaining ("maybe Dad can explain and this will all be ok!"), the depression (the quiet ride in the car with his seatbelt off), and then he moved right on to acceptance by stopping his parents from killing each other and calling the cops on Walt. Skyler's the one who grabbed the knife first, and it's possible an earlier-season Flynn might have taken Walt's side, but not now. His entire image of his father is shattered, and there's nothing to do but cast him out.

Walt taking Holly was particularly scummy, but totally believable as a rash thing for him to do in the moment. His phone call toward the end was a great performance. He actually fooled me the first time around. On a second watch, it was much more obvious to me that he was putting on one final performance to shield Skyler. Even if she hated him, he wanted to do that one last thing for his family. It could easily be argued that it was a product of arrogance, though. It's Walt exerting his control just one more time. Rather than let Skyler cop to her part in everything, he took that way from her, so it can be all his. If his legacy is to be a ruthless drug lord, then it is to be a legacy that entirely belongs to him, with no aid or accomplices.

I feel bad for Jesse. He is totally the Miles O'Brien of this show. He just gets tortured, over and over. He did the right thing by working with Hank, and all it did was get him turned into, essentially, a slave. The photo of Brock and Andrea sure wasn't subtle.

Looks like those of you who speculated Walt bought the M60 to rescue Jesse were probably right. Although it's hard to imagine what kind of horrible state Jesse will be in after almost a year being forced to work for Jack's Nazi Pack.

I also wonder what Lydia's take on all this will be. Dead DEA agents, Walt's life ruined, Jesse a prisoner, forced to cook--none of this is going to fit into her neat little world where everything is tightly-controlled and runs like clockwork.

A brief shout-out to the flashback in the opening: I like how Walt had to rehearse his lie, to drive home how good he got at lying, later on. That said, he was never that good of a liar. Even his adoring son could see through his lies a couple episodes ago. He just got better at spinning them on demand without the need to rehearse.

Finally, an interesting visual motif:

Those moments dovetail nicely in terms of who was involved, too. Here we have two men, on the ground, crying at the sight of men they loved having just been brutally murdered. But the differences are what make it so intriguing: Gus was broken at the beginning of his career, and Walt was broken at the end. If there is a lesson from all this, it is a simple one: if you're going to break bad, don't care about anyone, ever, or it will ruin you.